Census Bureau Hiring Process: Job Application, Interview, and Employment

Census Bureau Hiring Process: Job Application, Interview, and Employment

The hiring process at the United States Census Bureau involves various stages, including the job application and interview processes you must successfully complete to be employed by the Company.

Please, read on to learn about the Census Bureau recruitment process and increase your chances of being employed at the Company:

Census Bureau Organizational Overview

The U.S. Census Bureau (USBC) is one of the segments of the United States Commerce Department, appointed by the country’s president.

It is a major agency of the America’s federal statistical system, which has a responsibility in providing information about the people and economy of the United States.

The Census Bureau’s goal is to conduct the Country’s Census every ten years.

The several censuses and surveys conducted by the Bureau have helped in allocating more than 400 billion dollars in federal funds yearly, as well as helping the states, businesses, and local communities in making informed decisions.

The Census Bureau Hiring Process

Qualified individuals are being employed at the U.S. Census Bureau, especially when it is getting close to the America’s population Census.

Anyone who wants to get employed at the Census Bureau must pass through the following stages:

The Job Application Process

The initial step to take to get employed at this agency is by completing the online job application.

It typically takes at least 30 minutes to make this application, which would require you to provide answers to some assessment questions regarding your work experience, education, and other aspects.

You might also need to upload your resume.

The application is usually done through the agency’s official website, after you must have created an applicant’s account, which would make it possible for you to check the progress of your job application later on by logging to the backend of the account you created.

To get started, you will need to provide:

Your current home address
Phone number
Email address
Social security number
Date and place of birth

You will be notified with an email when your application has been received.

2. Phone Interview

After your application has been received, the recruitment team will contact you to conduct an interview through a phone call.

The phone interview is typically straightforward and brief. You will be asked a few competency-based questions, and some questions regarding your role, as well as your resume which you submitted during the online application initially.

After the phone interview, you might be invited for an in-person interview, or would just go straight to the background check.

In order to get interviewed via the phone, the recruiting team must have considered you to be very qualified and suitable for the job.

3. In-person Interview

Not everyone gets to be interview in person. Some applicants don’t have to participate in an in-person interview due to the role they are applying for.

The in-person interview is a pretty tough experience for participants, and would be conducted in one of their major offices, which is typically very decent, calm, and friendly.

You can be interviewed by just one personnel from the recruiting team, or it can be sometimes a panel interview with four hiring managers.

You will be asked already-prepared questions, to prove your competency and suitability for the role.

Interview questions will be absolutely based on the role you chose. However, there are general questions that you might not be able to avoid.

The Census Bureau interview questions include:

What is the most appropriate manner to deal with difficult individuals (this might include fellow colleagues).
Have you had a difficult experience with a co-worker? What was it like?
What is your typical reaction towards being bullied?

In spite of the simplicity of these questions, do not feel too relaxed and unprepared for the interview, since there are other unexpected questions that might be asked eventually.

It is highly recommended to make preparations for the interview so you wouldn’t be stranded and clueless during the interview session.

Here are tips that you should note when making preparations for an interview with the Census Bureau:

Ensure to prepare examples of scenarios where you were able to handle intolerable individuals, especially your co-workers.
Carryout research about what the interview process is and entails.
Ensure you don’t sound clueless or less confident when answering questions.
Have an in-depth knowledge about your role.

4. Background Checks

The U.S. Census Bureau usually conducts a thorough background investigation on applicants, so that they can recruit individuals who are free from criminal history or who haven’t been involved in illegal activities in the past.

Applicants who have likelihood of getting employed are normally requested to submit their fingerprints and probably some additional security documentations as well.

The fingerprints of applicants are taken to the FBI to investigate if anyone has been arrested, and why.

Applicants who do not pass the background test will be considered ineligible to be a personnel at the U.S. Census Bureau.

The whole background check process can take up to two months to complete, which some people consider to be a long period of time.

5. Training

Applicants who have been offered jobs will need to undergo an intensive training program before they can practice their work duties.

The training is conducted by a special team in the agency, and it is a process that will get you taught and equipped with the necessary skills, which you will need to perform your assigned duties.

During the training, you will be sworn into the organization, and then take the oath of office.

The entire training process lasts for several weeks and all participants are paid for the training.

How Long Does Census Bureau Hiring Process Last?

After you’ve been interviewed, you are likely to wait for a long period of time before you get a response from the recruiting team and then proceed in the hiring process.

In reference to the complaints of some applicants, the agency took nearly three months to notify them about the next step to take in the hiring process.

However, there have been cases of some applicants who got contacted in two weeks or less than.

Census Bureau Jobs and Careers

There are several roles that are open for employment at the Census Bureau, but here are a few of the roles that are very significant to the agency:

Census taker/Enumerator: This employee works in the field and interview inhabitants of an allocated area in accordance with strict orders given by the U.S. Census Bureau. He or she also has a responsibility in taking record of the information they get by conducting interviews with U.S. citizens.
Supervisor: This employee trains and supervises census takers among others. He or she is also responsible for assessing employees, overseeing employee levels and workflow in accordance with the standards of the agency.
Geographer: This employee is responsible for creating maps that would be used by the census takers to perform field work, which includes interviewing residents and mailing census questionnaires. He or she may also be asked to prepare custom maps and instructions.
Statistician/Analyst: This employee is responsible for collecting business and trade information, carrying out analysis on it and reporting on it to deliver a snapshot of the country’s business activities or economy.

What to Expect Working at the U.S. Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau is an organization that provides job satisfaction and flexibility for its employees.

Opportunities to learn, grow your career, and become a better person are made available at the agency.

The working environment is a pleasant one, and you will get to meet with a lot of people, depending on the role.

The agency really cares about employees, and they try as much as possible to make work duties pleasurable to perform.

But what most people don’t like about the agency are the abusive management and job insecurity.

Employees are sometimes intimidated and bullied by superior personnel or the management. And this is absolutely against the company’s policy.

Conclusion

The U.S. Census Bureau is always pleased and happy to see people who desire to be a part of their workforce.

As a result of this, they are open to recruiting as many people as possible into the agency, especially when it’s about time for conducting census.

The hiring process in this article is the usual procedure that every applicant has to pass through before he or she can be employed at the United States Census Bureau.